Not_An_Idiot Reviews

Up Pompeii (1971)

Pretty Solid, But Didn't Like It As Much As The Show

[7/10 · 11 May 2020]

I recently watched the show, movie, and "special" one offs for this show. The show is great, and this film is worth watching. Most of the cast other than Howerd was recast. They were mostly ok, but I missed the people from the show overall. As with many movie versions of Brit shows from back in the day they rehashed a lot of identical jokes from the show, and since I'd just watched the show they fell a little flatter than they probably would have with more time in between.

It felt like something was missing sometimes too... Oh, the laugh track! People don't really do those in movies, but I think it actually detracted somehow from the movie as funny as that sounds. The movie also has outright nudity, which is fine by me, but some might not be happy about.

All in all it's still funny and worth watching, but didn't get me quite as good as the show. I'd recommend not watching them all back to back though, space it out some for better effect!

Further Up Pompeii! (1975 TV Movie)

Nice Follow Up

[8/10 · 11 May 2020]

I recently watched the show, movie, and "special" one offs for this show. The show is great, and this is a nice little addition to it. Some of the cast got changed up, but most was still there. It's basically just a slightly longer episode of the show, which is not a bad thing. It was as solid as any episode.

Up Pompeii! (1969–1970)

Solid British Comedy

[8/10 · 11 May 2020]

As far as Americans go, I probably grew up with more BBC shows than most, but recently I've been going and digging up a lot of classic BBC shows I have never seen. Especially ones that involved people who did other shows I liked. David Croft is THE MAN with all the projects he worked on, which is what made me want to check this one out. If you're not familiar with him, he and a couple others he worked with were responsible for half of the best Britcoms ever written, check them out!

I would say this is a solid 8/10. It's got great writing, and the cast, especially Howerd is amazing. One odd thing for something that is objectively funny is that I found binge watching it to be a bit too much... A lot of the running gags are very funny, but back to back to back it loses some of it's oomph. So I would say only watch one or two at a time and you'll be laughing harder. Other than that great show!

Borderline (2016–2017)

A Fun Show

[9/10 · 29 December 2018]

I don't have a lot to say that hasn't already been said in other reviews. It's a fun show. It's pretty amusing if you like the style of humor used in the show.

I don't get the people who gave it an absolutely horrible rating. It is a workplace comedy show, which has been done a million times... And a mockumentary, which has also been done a million times... So has everything else. There's really not been any completely new territory to break in film/tv since probably the 60s. If you know your stuff, and know the real "first to do it" films/shows for many things that people thought were brilliant and new 40 years later, you know the Office wasn't the first mockumentary. Out of sequence filming, shaky cam, and every other "new" clever thing is also very old. That's not a reason to bag on something, just because it has all been done before... But this one is a pretty well executed and funny show. A 1 star show this is not!

The characters are likable, the comedy is solid. Not much else to say. If you like British humor, it is probably your cup of tea.

I watched this towards the end of 2018, and tried to see if a series 3 was planned... Couldn't find anything. I hope they do another series, as I would certainly watch it!